The City Council this morning declined to vote on a controversial contract with a Minneapolis-based consultant proposing a massive overhaul of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, including a recommendation to get rid of 81% of its workforce and outsource hundreds of jobs.

The council held a public hearing on the proposal this morning, and opponents including unions, environmental activists and DWSD employees urged the city to reject the plan as an assault on Detroit’s right to determine what’s best for the department and its workers.

“There is nothing wrong with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department that the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department can’t fix,” said Catherine Phillips, a staff representative for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25. “I am sick and tired of this ‘sky is falling’ mentality that we’ve had ever since Mayor Dave Bing was elected.”

And of course the usual suspects claimed this was an attempt - by reducing unneeded staff to make it more efficient and functional, to seize Detroit's jewel.

When your City's jewel is a sewage treatment plant.....

“This is nothing but someone trying to grab the biggest asset of the city to benefit their own coffers,” [Council member] Watson said.

Look, when a consultant points out that you're overstaffed by 81% - including a horse-shoer when your department hasn't had horses in decades, you have a problem, and its not with someone trying to steal your jewels, its about facing reality and controlling the cozy union-politician featherbedding relationship that has helped drive Detroit into the ground.

I don't see how Detroit doesn't end up in bankruptcy. With these knuckleheads in charge, there is just no way.

I know what it is though - this is the city that thinks there is an "Obama stash" that will be tapped to make all of this go away.

We are seeing the results of 100 years of "Progressive-ism" playing out before our eyes. Poor education and a population that was easily manipulated into believing there was such a thing as a free lunch has turned Detroit (and frankly, this country) into idiot dupes that can be relied upon to blindly follow and defend the progressive ideal. And as we see now, they don't have to be led any more - they just respond the way their handlers would want them to anyway.

Perhaps Gov. Snyder and the Legislature should focus on things that will insulate the rest of the state from these morons instead of trying to work out some "Emergency Manager" overhaul. Better use of their time, I'd say.